


there's bravery in being soft

by slowtawn



Category: Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Barista AU, Fluff, M/M, its not creepy thats just how he is bls!!, like. almost creepily so but, lots of it hehe, lowercase intended, probably not too much conflict, soft!josh, soft!tyler, twenty one pilots - Freeform, tyler is really observant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 23:03:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11390259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowtawn/pseuds/slowtawn
Summary: tyler takes the same bus every day. it's the forty two bus going southbound to ravenna station.josh happens to also take this bus.(lowercase intended)





	there's bravery in being soft

tyler took the same bus every day. it was the forty two bus going southbound to ravenna station.  
he was a barista at a café called poetry divided. it was the only place tyler knew of that could be described as an open mic café. independent artists based locally would come throughout the day and play acoustically - pianos, guitars, ukuleles, you name it. no loud drunk people, no loud music. the food and drinks were good, the music was soft, and so were the people who came to listen.  
there's bravery in being soft - that's what tyler thought.  
so, tyler would always go on the forty two bus going southbound to ravenna station. from there he'd get on the westbound subway and travel one stop. then he walked two blocks over to the café.  
tyler had done this every day for the past eight months. something he liked about taking the public transit was that despite him not talking to anyone, he'd notice people who regularly took that bus got on and got off. the girl with the german shepard who got off at baird avenue. the old man with the green book-bag who got off at indian road crescent.  
the boy with the shock of neon hair.  
this one always caught tyler's eye. he always recognized people who were regularly on the transit, but his memory of this boy was the most distinct.  
the first couple times tyler saw him, he had been working at poetry divided for two months. he was one of the many regulars on the forty two bus going southbound to ravenna station. his distinctions were that he got off at dovercourt road, he wore shirts of punk bands, and he was almost always doing a sudoku puzzle.  
he was really nothing special, in tyler’s mind. he was just one of the many people tyler took a mental note of as they got on and off of the forty two bus going southbound to ravenna station.  
the day that the boy with the sudoku puzzles who got off at dovercourt road and wore punk band tees got on the bus one day with bright blue hair was the day that tyler found himself looking at him.  
it’s rude to stare. he knew that. he had to remind himself of that sometimes. but for the proceeding five and a half months of him occasionally getting on the same forty two bus with the boy, he couldn’t help it.  
on this particular day, tyler was sitting in the same spot that he always did, and the boy got on. he had dyed his hair since the last time tyler saw him - he had dyed his hair a new colour four times over the last five and a half months. his black hat was covering most of it, but a tuft of bright yellow hair poked out. it was an unusual colour to dye your hair, but tyler liked it. yellow was his favourite colour anyway.  
the boy payed his fare and went to go sit down. the seat he ended up sitting down in was right next to tyler. he swung his bag over his shoulder and pulled out his book of sudokus. he reached into his bag once more. he rummaged around for a moment, and came up with nothing. he turned to his left, where tyler was sitting. tyler quickly turned his head around so that he wouldn’t be caught looking at him.  
“hey, do you have a pencil or a pen?” the boy whispered.  
tyler took one earphone out and turned around, doing a double-take to make sure the boy was talking to him and not someone else.  
“me?” tyler whispered back.  
“yeah, but if you don’t have one it’s not a big deal. i can just borrow someone else’s.”  
“no, i have one.” tyler said. he always carried a pen on him to jot down lyrics, not to mention that it was just convenient to have one on you all the time when you worked at an open mic place to write down the names of artists he liked.  
he reached into his pocket to grab it. it was one of those free pens that you could grab out of a jar, the ones mass-produced by businesses that put their corporation name and number on them as advertisement. tyler’s was from poetry divided. the quality wasn’t great, but it didn’t matter. it was free, and tyler loved his job there anyway, so it’s not as if he minded repping his work.  
he passed it to the boy, who took it between his two fingers like you would a cigarette. he flipped it around in his hand and clicked it open. “thanks.”  
“no problem.” said tyler. the boy started doing his sudoku puzzle and tyler put his earphone back in.  
five minutes passed, and tyler felt a tap on his shoulder. he immediately pulled out his earphone and looked over at the boy. “hm?”  
“hey, sorry, do you want this back?” the boy asked. “my stop is the one after the next.”  
tyler shrugged. “nah, you can keep it, i work there anyway so i can get a new pen whenever.”  
the boy looked down at the pen, noticing for the first time that the cafe’s name was printed onto it.  
“you work at poetry divided?” he said, his eyes wide.  
“mhm! do you know it?” asked tyler.  
“yeah!” said the boy. “i used to go there all the time. i even played there once.”  
“no way! what’s your instrument?” tyler asked.  
“well, technically i play drums, but i went there with my friend dallon who plays the bass and i just borrowed a cajon. he was playing and singing, i was just there more for moral support.”  
“that’s so cool! if you ever go again just ask for tyler and i’ll get you a free latte or something.” said tyler.  
“well tyler, my name’s josh and i might just take you up on that. i love that place.” josh said.  
josh. tyler could put a name to the face now.  
josh smiled at him, extending his arm with tyler’s pen in his hand. “here you go, can you…?”  
tyler stared back at him, confused. “huh? you can keep it if you want, remember?”  
josh smiled. “no, i meant, like -“ he made a phone motion with his hand. “if you want.”  
tyler realized josh was asking for his number.  
“ohh! uh, sure, no problem.” tyler said. “do you have a piece of paper i could use?”  
“yeah, just write it in the corner of the sudoku paper i guess.” said josh, passing his book to tyler. tyler opened it to the first page, one that josh had already completed. his numbers were small and compact, whereas tyler’s handwriting was a loopy cursive. he quickly wrote down his name and number, hesitantly adding a heart beside it.  
josh took it back, shoving it in his bag. “i’ll text you!” he said, grabbing the bar and pulling himself up. he walked to the front with a quick wave to tyler, thanked the driver, and with that got off of the forty two bus going southbound to ravenna station.

**Author's Note:**

> hope u like this aaa! this one makes me happy to write


End file.
